It was meant to be a routine meeting of an obscure Young Liberals branch held in November at the Sydney home of NSW upper house MP Lou Amato.

But its shockwaves are still being felt in the party amid claims Penny Fischer – Camden councillor and daughter of cabinet minister Pru Goward – is behind a plot to unseat the state MP for Camden, Chris Patterson.

Supporters of Mr Patterson – a member of the left faction – accuse Ms Fischer, a member of the powerful state executive aligned with the centre right, of branch stacking to secure the Camden mayoralty in 2017 and the state seat in 2019.

In an echo of ongoing tensions over federal Liberal preselections, there are claims Ms Fischer is also trying to protect her factional ally, Hume MP Angus Taylor, from an attack by local powerbroker Jai Rowell.

NSW upper house MP Lou Amato, whose home was the venue for the meeting. Photo: Simon Bennett

State MP for Camden Chris Patterson. Photo: Jonathan Ng.

State member for Wollondilly Jai Rowell. Photo: Anna Warr

Mr Rowell has denied he is behind a push to install left wing Macarthur MP Russell Matheson in the seat after a change in electorate boundaries.

According to party sources, the membership of the Camden Young Liberals branch was "in single figures" mid last year, but has swollen to 54.

Curiously, 42 of the members are not from within the Camden area, with addresses as far afield as Potts Point.

Under the party rules, a Young Liberal branch can sign up members who are enrolled to vote in the local or neighbouring federal electorate.

The branch's November 30 annual general meeting at Mr Amato's home was designed to dissolve the branch.

Mr Rowell – who is also the state member for Wollondilly – and Mr Patterson planned to claim it had too few members with voting rights.

A source said the meeting was held at Mr Amato's home near the southern highlands village of Balmoral to deter attendance by Ms Fischer's supporters and he had joked he wouldn't feed his dogs for a week to ensure her backers stayed away.